Penelope's Story
by Chihiro26
Summary: Penelope is a lone wolf. She is often thought of as cold and stoic only ever showing compassion to her fox Rascal. But as she realizes her dream of becoming a Sky Night she learns that just because she has been alone, it doesn't mean she has to be.
1. Prolouge: The Death of a Home

**Sooooooooooooo I'm finally breaking into the Storm Hawks arena. Woohoo! And to start, this is a story about my OC Penelope. I is excited! So without further ado, let the reading commence! **

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**Prologue: The Death of a Home**

Fire. Her world was on fire.

The flames tore away at the landscape around her as the little girl scrambled up a nearby hill to get away from the heat and destruction. Her violet hair was matted to her head with sweat, soot and blood. Her clothes were disheveled to say the least; the once vibrant summer dress was littered with grass stains, rips and holes made by the flames. The shiny patent leather shoes were now dull and scratched, the right one was barely staying on her foot. Her skin was plagued by cuts and bruises and of course, burns.

The trek to the top of the hill should have been very easy, but her many wounds made it hard for her to move and the thick smoke in the air detracted from her visibility let alone making it hard for her to breathe. But once she finally made it she couldn't hold it in any longer.

She cried.

And not those blubbering, snotty, disgusting tears of a child who has just lost their favorite toy. Oh no. She cried real miserable tears. She fell to her knees as gut wrenching sobs shook her body. She was beside herself with grief as she watched her terra, her _home_ burn like it was nothing more than a leaf that had the misfortune of floating into a campfire. And her sobs grew worse as she realized that she was alone. Completely, utterly alone.

No Mama.

No Papa.

No Brother.

Just Eudora.

"No!" Eudora shouted. She refused to believe that her family could be taken from her so easily.

"Mama! Papa! Eros!" she was shrieking now. The sobs had stopped but the pain was still oh so _real_. The heat from the flames below still licked at her skin. The smoke still burned her eyes and choked her lungs. Her family was still _gone_. And she was still alone.

Then she heard it. Something was crying out from the bush behind her.

Cautiously, Eudora crept towards the shrub. Slowly she bent back the branches and peered into the center.

There, curled into a tight ball of red fluff, lied a fox cub. It was crying too.

Eudora knew it wasn't a good idea to touch wild animals. Her mother had always told her that. But she couldn't even begin to consider that this little creature that was in just as much pain as she was could possibly cause her harm. So despite 6 years of warnings, Eudora reached out and picked up the little bundle.

She watched wide eyed as the creature unfurled itself in her arms. It seemed to warm up to her immediately, nuzzling against her shoulder as she held it. She discovered that it was a he as she sat on the grass and placed the cub next to her. She watched as he scampered about, sniffing here and there. For what he was looking for Eudora had no idea but she continued to find enjoyment from surveying him.

"My my aren't you a little rascal." Eudora teased as the small fox ran straight into the bush he'd just been pulled from. She thought to herself for a moment and smiled.

"Rascal. That shall be your new name." Rascal looked up from his searching to purr happily. Eudora giggled to herself softly before turning back to look at the valley below.

The fire was beginning to die down but it was still raging. It would probably be hours before she and her new friend could go back down. But she wasn't really in a hurry to see her destroyed home. She turned her attention to Rascal and reached out her hand to him. He came and sat next to her, letting her pet the soft tuft of hair on top of his head. She sighed.

"It's just us now Rascal. Can we do this?" Rascal twitched slightly before bringing his foot up to scratch at his ear. Eudora took that as a yes. She stood up and looked around. Far off in the distance she could see the port untouched by the raging fire. Once the fire had settled enough, her and Rascal would head there to find a way off the terra.

"After tonight this will no longer be our home Rascal." She said looking down at the cub. She looked back up and was unable to stop the tears from falling down her cheeks once again.

"I guess this is goodbye, Terra Europia."

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**The reason behind the name of the terra: It's basically like all of Europe rolled into one terra. Like in my mind it's very old englishy with like French and Spanish and Greek influences all over the freaking place! lol That's why Eudora kinda sounds like she could have an English accent. **


	2. Chapter 1: Lost and Found

**Woo! Chapter two! lol I'm actually really excited about this story. Hopefully I don't lose interest in it...hah!**

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Chapter 1: Lost and Found  
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Penelope was not happy.

She could have sworn she had put her money in her satchel that morning but for the life of her she could not find it. She groaned in frustration and turned the bag over letting all of its contents fall out. Dropping to her knees, she carefully searched through the clutter that had fallen on the ground. No money.

"Damn." She muttered to herself while pushing her bangs out of her face. She huffed as she felt something soft and furry brush against her arm. A fox with bright red fur was rubbing against her in an attempt to make her feel better. She laughed.

"Thanks Rascal. But we still don't have food…" She trailed off while beginning to think. Then she noticed the shadow that had come over her. Penelope looked up to see the silhouette of what she assumed was a boy.

"Need help?" the stranger asked. He gestured to the stuff she'd dumped out of her bag. She shook her head.

"No I've got it. But thanks." She answered quickly before working on getting all her stuff together. As she worked she realized that the stranger had not moved. Rascal had noticed too because he was snarling softly. The stranger made a face as he looked from Penelope to her friend.

"Nice fox." He muttered. Penelope laughed.

"Yeah Rascal's a little protective." She stood up from the ground throwing her satchel over her shoulder. Dusting off her clothes, she looked the stranger in the eye. He was staring at her and suddenly Penelope was hit with a sense of familiarity. _'He looks an awful lot like…no. No it's not him. It's not possible.'_

"You seem really familiar." Said the stranger. Apparently they'd been thinking the same thing. Penelope took the chance to take in his appearance. Shaggy raven colored hair sat on top of his head and he was looking at her with piercingly green eyes…just like hers. She hadn't seen those eyes in eight years. But the most telling thing was the band around his arm that held their family crest.

"E-Eros?" Penelope whispered. He nodded, grinning widely from ear to ear. She reached out and touched his face before throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a huge hug. He returned it gladly, wrapping his arms around her waist and spinning her around. She giggled, it felt like she was six all over again.

Eros slowly came to a stop and put Penelope down. He didn't let go of her though and he beamed as she took her in.

"My my have we grown." He said. Penelope smiled.

"I could say the same for you." But then the smile was lost. The moment turned serious.

"I thought you were dead. I…_saw_ you die. You and mama and papa…." She trailed off before she could start crying. She didn't want to relive those memories. But then she her eyes widened and she grabbed Eros' arms tightly.

"Mama and Papa! Are they alive too?" she clung to her brother desperately, awaiting his answer. Eros looked down at his little sister and sighed.

"Eu-" he began, but was cut off.

"It's Penelope now." She said. He looked confused but simply nodded. He'd have time to ask later.

Oh how wrong he was.

Just at that moment an explosion went off in a nearby tent. Penelope ducked and Eros threw himself over her to protect her from shrapnel.

Once the smoke cleared, Eros stood back up while Penelope stayed low to the ground. She reached over and pulled her fingers through her fox companion's hair. The creature purred.

"Rascal, are you okay?"

Rascal gave a motion that resembled a nod and Penelope let out a sigh of relief. She stood up and dusted off her clothes. She looked at Eros but he wasn't paying any attention. He was watching the horizon, and for good reason. There were a number of skimmers heading for the small camp. Penelope squinted to try and see who they were. She gasped. _Cyclonians._

Eros acted quickly, taking Penelope's hand and rushing her away.

"Come on!" he shouted and pulled her behind another tent a little ways down. Once behind it he asked her if she had a skimmer.

"Yeah. It's out away from the camp." She answered while pointing in the direction it was in. Eros nodded and pointed the other way.

"Mine's over there. Get your skimmer and follow me out. I'll get us out of here." Penelope nodded and ran off to get her ride; Rascal was right on her heels.

When she got to her skimmer she smiled at how quickly Eros had gone into brother mode. She'd never admit it, but she missed having someone that could take care of her around. Yeah she had Rascal, but there was only so much companionship a fox could provide. She did love the furry creature though. He was her family.

"And now I have my brother back." Penelope whispered as she started up her ride. The engine purred smoothly and she began moving towards where her brother was. When she got to him he was waiting with his engine running. He grinned at her.

"This should be fun."

And then he was gone. Racing away from the camp and towards the opposite horizon than the one the Cyclonians were coming from. Penelope followed after him and the two took off into the skies. But there joy didn't last long. As quickly as they were brought together, they were to be torn apart once more.

Beams of light began streaking past the pair. Rascal growled and Penelope turned to see some of the Talons were following them and they were being led by Snipe.

"AFTER THEM!" Snipe screeched. He looked none too happy and that meant trouble for them. Even if he wasn't too bright, he was certainly persistent.

"Follow me and we'll lose them!" Eros shouted over the roar of the skimmers. Penelope nodded and followed her brother into a nosedive. If Penelope had to use one word to describe the experience,_ '_terrifying' would be her first choice, followed by 'thrilling'. Despite the fact that they could very well be rocketing towards their deaths, the experience was oddly…exciting.

"Woohooo!" Penelope shouted. Oh yeah, she was enjoying herself. And so was Eros. She could her him laughing from ahead. And it wasn't long before the beams of light stopped streaking past. Penelope looked behind them and smiled at the sight of retreating Talons and one very pissed Snipe.

"We did it." Eros said as he leveled out his skimmer and began his ascent. Penelope followed as Rascal settled in for the ride.

"That was easy." Penelope said. She was smiling, but in reality she was a little worried. It had been really easy. _Too_ easy actually. Eros snorted.

"Snipe isn't hard to lose. I've done it before." He grinned smugly. Penelope arched an eyebrow.

"Before? Eros are they after you?" she asked. He didn't answer. He just kept looking ahead. Penelope didn't think he'd heard her.

"Er- LOOK OUT!" A large crystal mace went whizzing by Eros' head. He yelped and pulled hard on his controls letting the weapon zip by under his skimmer.

"What the hell?" Eros looked around madly trying to see where the mace had come from. He didn't need to look for long. Snipe was back, and this time he didn't look so dumb.

"Did you really think I'd fall for that old trick again? I mean really, I'm not _that_ dumb." Snipe sneered. Eros grinned.

"Oh really? You could've fooled me." He stated simply. Snape roared. Yes, _roared_, before charging at Eros and Penelope. The latter figured running wasn't an option anymore and pulled out her whip which began to glow sky blue. Eros had pulled out his weapon as well. _'Dad's sword.'_ Penelope thought as she gaped at the weapon. It was glowing, a startling red and it looked…menacing.

"As much as I've loved this game of cat and mouse, I feel like it's time to end it." Eros shouted. Snipe smirked.

"My thoughts exactly." And then there was a series of loud crashes as the two weapons met in heated battle. While Eros took care of Snipe, Penelope turned her attention to the few Talons that were hovering around them.

"One, two, three…" Penelope counted. There were five in total. She could take them.

Either these Talons were very _very_ pathetic or Penelope was way more talented than she thought because she took out the first four in no time. But the last one seemed surer of himself. He wasn't a sapling like the rest had been. This would be tough.

"Hold on Rascal." Penelope said. She raced forward, charging right for mister self confident, feeling a little doubtful herself. But she never got the chance to strike. She heard Eros cry out behind her and she turned to look just in time to see Snipe take out his skimmer. Her brother was clinging desperately to Snipe's heliscooter. The Cyclonian laughed at the squirming Eros, and slowly offered his hand.

"Here. Let me help you." He sneered. Eros glared.

"I'd rather suffer a thousand deaths than be helped by _you_." He spat out. Snipe grinned.

"That can be arranged." And then his mace was slamming down where Eros' hand was, but the raven haired boy was too quick. He swung himself under the scooter and back up to the other side, delivering a swift punch to the back of Snipe's head. The Cyclonian flailed before falling off his ride and plummeting down towards the wastelands. Penelope sneered when she saw his parachute open. But now she had bigger problems. The Talon she had been planning on attacking was now attacking her, or more specifically, her skimmer. Penelope yelped as the vehicle plunged suddenly. Miraculously she was able to pull it back up, but it wouldn't stay airborn for long. She needed a terra fast. And the Talon was willing to help her find one. His next shot hit it's mark and Penelope's engine sputtered and died. Her eyes went wide as she frantically tried to bring it back to life but no dice. She was going down.

"Eudora!" Eros shouted. He raced towards his sister but was cut off by the mysterious Talon. Since when had they gotten so…_daring_. The Talon reached out and grabbed Eros by his collar, pulling him into the air. He peered at the boy dangerously before speaking.

"Master Cyclonis wants a word with you." He stated simply. And Eros couldn't help but think that his red eyes seemed all too familiar…

Penelope had turned when her brother called her name. She saw the Talon capture him, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. A tear slipped down her cheek as she turned her attention to landing as safely as possible. Luckily, there was a terra nearby and she aimed for it. Unluckily, she was coming in too fast. Her best bet was to dive off her skimmer before it made contact with the ground. So that's what she did. Grabbing Rascal, Penelope threw herself from her vehicle and hit the ground. Hard. Somewhere along the line her body had decided it didn't want to roll. In the background, she heard her skimmer crash. She could only hope that it could be repaired. She tried standing up but she was in too much pain. She felt blood trickling down her forehead and realized that she'd hit her head. Probably on a rock. She groaned and felt Rascal nuzzle her hand. She placed it on top of his head as he lay next to her.

"I'll be alright buddy…" she whispered before slipping into unconsciousness.

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**I feel like I might actually start the next chapter tonight...who knows. ^^ Reviews are always nice. **


	3. Chapter 2: Blue Eyes

**So sorry for the wait. To be honest, I had this chapter pretty much written when I uploaded the last one but I couldn't decide on the boy's name. And whoever is the first one to guess where the names of the twins are from wins a request for a story. =)**

**Due to me having a test and an essay due this week I wasn't planning on updating this today but after an awesome "review" from kezzywezzy25 I just had to. Glad to know you're enjoying it. I hope this chapter isn't a huge disappointment. D:  
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Pain. Sharp pain.

Penelope moaned. _'Bad idea…' _she thought as the stinging in her head got worse. She tried opening her eyes but that proved fruitless as well. But her noise of discomfort, no matter how weak it had been, had alerted the attention of someone nearby because Penelope could hear voices.

"It looks like she's waking up." It was a boy.

"Yeah…What should we do?" A girl replied, and then there was a pause. Penelope assumed the boy was thinking.

"Well I'm guessing she'll be hungry…I don't know what to do about the pain she must be in though. That bump was nasty." The boy said. Penelope heard a grunt as one of them stood up.

"I'll go find her something to eat." The boy continued.

"Alright. I think I'll check on her wound." Said the girl. Then Penelope heard what she figured was the zipper to a tent. The boy was gone.

"Let's see what we have here…" The girl muttered to herself. Penelope felt her poking at the bump on her head and she fought the urge to scream. She moaned instead, this time louder.

"Oh I'm sorry. I'm trying to be gentle but my brother was right, this bump is nasty." The girl said. So that boy was her brother. Penelope made a note to not forget that, something that would be all too easy to do in the state she was currently in. She tried to speak.

"Unh…" she failed. _'Damn. This is going to be harder than I thought.' _Penelope thought. But she was determined so she tried again.

"P-pe-…Pen…" she tried again. She couldn't see it, but the girl was watching her intently.

"P-penelope." She got out. The girl smiled.

"That must be your name. I'm Abigail. Can you open your eyes?" Abigail asked. Penelope shook her head. Another bad idea.

"That's alright. Keep them closed while I re-bandage your wound." Abigail said. Penelope didn't know why she hadn't noticed before, but Abigail had a slight accent. _'French.'_ She thought. Suddenly a sharp pain ran from her skull to her toes and Penelope hissed violently.

"Sorry, sorry!" Abigail apologized quickly before going back to work. Once the pain went away, Penelope went back to her thoughts. _'With a French accent she could only be from two places. Terra Gale or…'_ Her thoughts were cut off once again, but this time by the return of Abigail's brother.

"I have food!" he shouted. Penelope winced.

"Tommy!" Abigail whispered fiercely. "Shut up!" Penelope could not see him, but the boy or "Tommy" as he had been called, blushed while looking rather sheepish.

"Sorry." He whispered. Penelope listened, but could not detect an accent from him. She thought that was rather strange. If they were brother and sister, surely they were from the same place. Penelope and her brother both had slight English accents themselves…

Penelope's eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, which startled Abigail, who jumped and fell backwards. The whole process woke up Rascal who had been sleeping in the corner. He rushed to his friend as she tried to stand up and frantically began looking for her things despite her dizziness.

"Eros. Eros I have to find him!" She shouted. Then everything started spinning violently and she fell over, only to be caught by a pair of strong arms. Penelope looked up and found herself staring up into two startlingly sky blue eyes. The owner of the eyes grinned at her before placing her back down on the cot she'd inhabited.

"Hold on. You are nowhere near being able to move, let alone leave to search for someone." He said. He reached for the bandages Abigail had dropped and started where she'd left off in bandaging Penelope's wound. Penelope snorted and tried again to make a move, but Tommy held her in place.

"Get out of my way! Eros is in danger!" She roared. Tommy just looked at her. Then he brought up two fingers and tapped lightly on the bump on the violet haired girl's head. Penelope yelped. It _really_ hurt and she was suddenly reminded just how bad she felt in general.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" She shrieked while trying to bite back the nausea that was setting in quickly.

Tommy chuckled. "See? You won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

Penelope snorted in disgust, but the boy was right. Even if she did have a working skimmer and managed to find her brother, she would be of no use to him in this condition. With another sigh she loosened up and allowed Tommy to fix up the bindings without interruption.

"That a girl." He muttered. Penelope rolled her eyes but she didn't miss the grin that was planted on his face. After a few more minutes, Tommy stood up and brushed his auburn bangs from his eyes. Penelope couldn't help but think he was rather cute. She couldn't think about it long though because Rascal was brushing against her leg. She looked down and smiled at the fox before scratching lightly behind his ears. He purred with satisfaction.

"He was awfully worried about you." Abigail said from the back of the tent. Penelope jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. She'd forgotten she was there.

"He was crying out a lot. And even in his sleep we could tell he was having nightmares." Abigail continued. She was busying herself with her hair as she spoke. Much longer than Penelope's it traveled down to the backs of her knees and was auburn like her brother's. The girl kept it in a braid and was currently redoing that braid. When she finished, she got up and walked towards a sack that had been placed near the door. After looking through it for a minute she beamed and looked at her brother who raised an eyebrow.

"You did good brother." She said, then laughed. "We are going to eat good tonight, yes?" Her smile got even bigger and Tommy was looking rather proud of himself as he nodded. Abigail got up taking the bag with her as she moved towards the tent entrance.

"I'm going to start a fire so I can cook the meat." She stated. And then she was gone. Now it was just Penelope, Rascal and Tommy. Rascal was in the corner now busying himself with who knows what, so Penelope turned her attention to the boy.

"How long was I out?" She asked. She found talking to be a lot easier now, as long as she didn't yell or anything. Tommy looked up as if he was thinking.

"A couple of hours." He said. He shrugged before continuing, "We weren't sure if you had a concussion so we checked on you often." He finished. He'd said it as if it was no big deal and to him and his sister, it probably wasn't. To them they were just taking care of a fellow traveler. But Penelope still found herself oddly touched by their actions.

"_Efharisto_." She muttered. She didn't miss the look of confusion on his face before she added, "Thank you." Tommy smiled in understanding then nodded.

"You're welcome…was that Greek?"

"Yes. My native tongue." Tommy looked like he wanted to ask something, but wasn't sure if he should. In the end his curiosity won.

"So, you must be from Terra Europia…right?" Penelope nodded slowly.

"That's where my sister and I are from, but we're from the French sector." He stated. Penelope smiled. So her assumption was right. They were either from Terra Gale or her home terra. Then she wondered…

"How old are you?"

"Me and Abigail are both fourteen." _'Twins.' _Penelope thought. It made sense. They did look an awful lot alike with the only difference being in their height and eye color. While Tommy's eyes were sky blue, Abigail's were a deep brown. Penelope wondered why that was, but didn't dwell on it. She did however, have more questions for the boy.

"How old are you?"

Penelope looked up to see Tommy grinning at her. For what, she wasn't sure. She answered the question.

"Fourteen."

"So you're our age." Penelope nodded and then they were silent. She could tell they both wanted to ask the same question but neither knew how to go about it.

"Were you…there…when…" Tommy started to talk but then stopped. He looked up thoughtfully before trying again. But he was cut off.

"Yes." Penelope stated. Tommy nodded.

"We didn't. My mom, sister and I were off the terra at the time…my dad was still there though." He looked off towards the back of the tent. Penelope followed his gaze, but couldn't figure out what was so interesting.

"My mom and dad were killed, but I just found out that my brother survived."

"Eros?" Penelope raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. How did you know?" Tommy shrugged before answering.

"I don't know, I just guessed. If he's alive though, why do you need to save him?" He was looking at her again and Penelope found that she couldn't look away. He held her gaze with those beautiful eyes…

"He was captured by the Cyclonians…" she whispered. "He was gone for so long, I'd completely lost hope that my family was alive. Then he finds me…only to be torn away again…" She was finally able to tear her eyes away from Tommy's as she fought back the tears. She felt him put a hand on her shoulder. She attributed the shiver down her spine to her sudden surge of emotions and the fact that it was getting colder.

"I'm sorry…" Tommy muttered.

"Penelope. I just realized that I told your sister, but not you." She smiled despite the sadness she was feeling. Tommy smiled back.

"Well Penelope, how about we go check on dinner? Abigail should be done soon." Penelope nodded and the two left the tent. Rascal stayed inside, having fallen asleep in the corner again.

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**I love Rascal to death but it's a pain trying to make sure he stays in the storyline so you guys can just assume he's there in the background unless otherwise noted. (In case you can't tell, I'm lazy =P)**


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